300 meets Gladiator in a pitch-perfect celebration of blood, revenge, and steel-on-bone viscera. Madness? This is next-gen.

In two/three weeks, respectively, Sony and Microsoft will throw new hardware onto shelves for people to hunt down, fight over, and ultimately buy. Yes, Virginia, we have back-to-back Friday console launches on the horizon, followed by the busiest goddamn shopping day of the year. It gets worse: If you haven’t yet preordered, you’re too late at this point, and unfortunately for you, that means trying your luck at retail.

Be warned: November is going to be an absolute bloodbath. If you’re going into the breach, you’re probably going to want to know what you’re risking life and limb to actually play. Here, then, is our analysis of the top contenders for each system, as well as a few multiplatform games.